Saturday, May 18, 2024

'A dynamite scare in church' (1886)

church pipe organ with steam around it
1886 newspaper clipping: A Dynamite Scare in Church. While Rev. Dr. Kittredge, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, Chicago, was describing in a sermon on Sunday morning how there were red-handed anarchists lurking about the city, ready to burn or otherwise destroy property, escaping steam began to issue from the pipes of the grand organ just back of the pulpit. Pew renters in front seats were the first to notice the steam, and a moment later the entire congregation apparently began having visions of dynamite bombs and long-haired Socialists. The members were soon scurrying through the aisles, pointing at what they thought to be smoke. When the audience was on the verge of a panic Dr. Kittredge turned about and quickly announced that it was nothing but steam. 'Brethren,' he continued, 'it is an intimation that I should put more steam into my sermons.' The subsequent remarks about the Socialists were fiercer than before.

Newspaper clipping: Lancaster New Era, Mon, Mar 29, 1886, Page 1 — Newspapers.com

Image at top: Organ by Holger Schué, smoke by Pexels, both from Pixabay

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